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The Secret Lives of Colour

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The Secret Lives of Colour

By: Kassia St Clair
Narrated by: Kassia St Clair
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About this listen

The Secret Lives of Colour tells the unusual stories of the 75 most fascinating shades, dyes and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso's blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.

In this book Kassia St Clair has turned her lifelong obsession with colours and where they come from (whether Van Gogh's chrome yellow sunflowers or punk's fluorescent pink) into a unique study of human civilisation. Across fashion and politics, art and war, The Secret Lives of Colour tell the vivid story of our culture.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio on our Desktop Site.

©2016 Kassia St Clair (P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd Art War

Critic Reviews

"A mind-expanding tour of the world without leaving your paintbox. Every colour has a story, and here are some of the most alluring, alarming, and thought-provoking. Very hard painting the hallway magnolia after this inspiring primer." (Simon Garfield)

All stars
Most relevant
Many secrets were revealed about colour & their history.
All so intriguing that it gave me fresh eyes & an appetite to paint.
Read by the Author, it has been set out in chapters devoted to each hue family; it is easy to return to.
Knowing the history behind our readily accessed colour palettes of today has broadened my perspective in many ways.
The book is full of fascinating facts about the cultures & belief systems that influenced the making of pigments, combined with the historical influences & limitations that faced the manufacturers & colourmen.
I think we owe much to their hard work & dedication.
Beautifully written & read.
Extremely captivating read, easy yo listen to.
I have read it many times & often referred to its chapters while working.
THANKYOU.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. 👍🙏👼

NB: A tip for listeners, good idea to slow down reading speed to 85 so older readers like myself can catch every word.

Artists friend.

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I loved listening to the historical origins of colour, the interesting facts surrounding certain colours and about colours I've never heard of such as Vantablack and Mummy brown. The narrator did an excellent job of pronunciation and she is very easy to listen to. It's a book that I will listen to again and I highly recommend it.

Loved it!!

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wonderful writing, incredible research, beautifully told and structured. I quote from this book all the time.

loved so much I bought the hard copy

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struggled to finish, I noticed that a lot of the info in this book was simply googled, word for word in some cases from Wikipedia.
The narrator seemed to be trying too hard to speak in 'Queens English'.

Could use a better narrator.

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I read the book first and found it very interesting.
So, why an audiobook?
The author’s voice and style of narration is very soothing to my ears.
It’s very rare that I enjoyed both the book and audiobook.
Thank you.

Highly recommended

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